The Friend They Lost

"Hurry up, Lyric! I can hear them already!" The impatient young alicorn called back to him.

It only made him quicken his speed as he could almost see over the hill that led to the open field of battle; he sprinted at the thought of being able to play with his friends and quickly passed Celestia in a white-wash of snow, slamming face-first into the giant snowpony that wait atop the hill. Luna on the other-hoof went shooting off his shoulders and directly into the air.

"Ohhhh myyyy gooooosh~!" She screeched with her forehooves extended outwards and wings popping out to glide to the waiting ground. She landed with half her body sticking out of the snow; legs wiggling to get free.

"Was... Is that Moody?" The grey filly questioned to her two friends packing snowballs. She galloped over to the dangling legs and yanked her out; a bit of snow popping out with her. "Hahahaha, look at that!" She tried to stifle her snickers but failed.

"Grrr, I swear if you didn't get me out, I'd put you under with me." She told Star with a small frown but then quickly changed her tune just as fast as it had came as she saw Lyric taking his own head out of the snowpony, leaving a top hat of snow on his noggin.

The two children ran down the small hill to see their waiting group of friends and rushed to see them. "So what was it you all wanted to show me?" Lyric asked curiously as he punched the top hat off his head, leading to a gentle stifled giggle from his sisters. "I really liked the last thing I was able to do with snow so I hope this is just as much fun!" He was brimming with enthusiasm.

Blossom and Bloom each picked up a snowball and tossed it into the air, catching the others as they smiled. "It's called a snowball fight, Lyric; and we made lots. I mean, LOTS." Blossom told him as she stuck a hoof behind herself, pointing to the large mass of snowballs they had been creating.

Lyrics eyes began to sparkle and he had the look of gods grace on his face, "You mean..." His mind was trying to work out his thought at the sudden mountain of snowballs, "We... We can throw these things at each other?!" His head had worked it out and he was as excited as he had been when he drank the hot chocolate.

"You're darn right we can." Star said as she reared up and threw a snowball as hard as she could at the snowpony, leaving it crumble and fall apart. All the children stared at her in terror. "Five time winning champion in the towns annual snowball fight." She smirked smugly.

"There's... No way is this town even cooler than before!" He screamed like girl; his fun-o-meter set to the highest setting in his head. "This is... This is... THIS IS THE FUNNEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD!" He all but yelled, panting at the idea of being able to get back at all the townsponies that had stared him down when he was buried alive in chickens, covered head to toe in taffy, and somehow managed to get onto the clock-tower and hang off the hour dial; just a few of his many escapades they were forced to into the passing months.

"Haha, calm down Lyric, it's only a snowball fight." The celestial little alicorn told him.

"But it's my first one!" He said, inches away from touching noses. "I can't believe it, a snowball fight!" He squee'd in delight.

The children all laughed and smiled at helping the young boy experience his first snowball fight. "Well lets see... There's six of us, so the teams aren't a problem." Star started telling the group, explaining it. (Mostly for Lyrics sake, of course.) "There's two teams, Lyric; each team can make a base and create walls but no roof. Once they make the bases and have their stock pile of ammo-" She pointed to the mass of snowballs the twins were finally finished up with, "-then we all count down from five and start tossing until one side's base is destroyed; or the other team is bombarded and forced to give up every shred of hope they have and admit utter defeat." She said with a sinister smile spreading across her small muzzle. I can't wait to make the last part come true... She thought evilly as she rubbed her hooves together.

"So... It's war?" He asked sadly, almost as if he had seen the real thing and was worried to see it again; his features become remorseful.

"Brother don't worry." Luna said with a wide, closed-mouth smile. "It's only a game, remember? It's fun, trust me." She said as comfortingly as she knew how. He slowly grew a large smile and nodded rapidly.

"Okay I get it; so we just pelt each other or destroy the base, right?" Star and the gardening twins both nodded once. "Haha, okay! What are the teams?" He said, looking back and forth between the girls.

"You really gotta ask, bro?" The little lunar filly said with a bright smile.

"Hehe, I'm with Luna on this one." Celestia said as she grabbed his hand in-hoof and led him over to the other side of field; the three fillies rushing over to their own side, quickly packing snow in a half-circle.

Lyric watched his sisters for a moment as he sat cross-legged in the snow, seeing how to begin the crafting. They slowly rushed back and forth, packing small amounts of snow and trying to slide it along the edges of a small mound to curve it; leaving a filly-sized blockade in front of themselves. As Lyric started to understand the concept, a light went off in his head and he grinned at his brilliant thought. He stuffed a small snowball together and placed it on the ground, remembering what they taught him earlier about making snowponies and rolled it along, back and forth until it was about half his size; he breathed in and out deeply, preparing himself. Lyric bent down slightly and ran as fast as he could, picking up more and more snow until it was almost his size and stopped; re-positioning himself to face the girls slowly constructing their own fort. He sped up and ran in a circle around Celestia and Luna as they stopped in their tracks and watched the boy speed around them, creating a gigantic ball of snow and leaving the grass to spring forth, almost as if summer was coming through the only patch for hundreds of miles. He stopped pushing the gargantuan boulder of snow and panted with a large but tired smile; standing proud with one arm against it.

He was out and panted lightly, "I... Hope this is... Whew- big enough..." He finished with a wipe of his forehead. The princesses only nodded with their mouths hanging open. Lyric grabbed Luna, "Get ready, sis." He told her

"Get ready for wha-" She was cut short as he tossed her lazily up onto the boulder and watched her legs sink into it. "I... Whatever." The small alicorn said in acceptance as she pried her legs out and stood atop the nearly ten foot high and ten foot wide mountain of snow.

"Now we shape it!" He said as he started packing snow underneath the bottom to secure it.

Celestia simply shrugged and looked up to her blue-coated sister, "Hey Luna, you start on the top! Make it something secure!" She called up to her sister.

Luna looked back to the blank slate of snow, "Something... Secure." She thought aloud to herself.

They never exactly put a time limit on how long they were able to make the forts, just that they had to be done at the same time and agreed on the rules... A good half hour had passed and the children were so focused on constructing the perfect fort, they never took a second to look at the others contraption. As Star finally finished the tip of their fort; a very nice looking fort indeed, with a large steeple holding her scarf as the wind blew. It even included a small staircase about five feet high where they had a fortified wall for aerial attacks onto the unsuspecting royals. All in all, it's size was fourteen feet wide with walls that ranged from four feet high to seven feet at it's highest wall, leaving the tippiest top at nine feet high with the makeshift flag flapping away; But what they should have been making perfect was their eyesight...

"Hah! Lets see them try to take this out." Star said proudly to her friends who grinned widely and hopped to their positions.

"I bet they don't even have a stee...ple..."Blossom's jaw dropped and Star and Bloom wondered why, jumping beside her and starring; she grabbed their heads and turned them to face across the way at the spectacle that lay before them...